414 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
what dangers—or under what conditions of danger—are the 
defenceless creatures supposed to require this protection ? 
An answer to that question must involve consideration of the 
general conditions that govern the “struggle for existence” in 
African forest and veld ; in short, a study of the psychology of 
the wilderness. Thus, for example, before we can accept this 
theory of colour-protection as presented, we must first con¬ 
strain ourselves to regard the lion and his fellow-carnivores as 
habitually rampaging far and wide in broad daylight, instinct 
to kill at sight from sheer blood-lust, and customarily charging 
herds of herbivores from untold distances. That, of course, may 
be the popular view and reads so pretty. Those, however, who 
have studied the lion in life know that such ideas are merely 
fabled fallacies—not to say romantic rubbish. By day the big 
carnivores are not beasts-of-prey at all; that function they 
confine to the night—when colour counts not, and when scent 
leads them to their prey. On the rare occasions when herds 
of antelopes or zebras do—perhaps once in their lifetimes— 
chance to set eyes on a disturbed lion astir in daylight, no sign 
of alarm do they evince; no panic seizes them, nor (so far as 
we can judge) do they recognise in the unwonted apparition— 
however near—an enemy at all. Some watch with curious 
eyes; others continue grazing. I assume, of course, that the 
“ wind ” is right . 1 
One point in this controversy demands clear emphasis at the 
outset. In the main, those who uphold this theory of colour- 
protection are (if that be the right term) “cabinet-naturalists”— 
many of them men of high intellectual and scientific attain¬ 
ments, of broad views, but of comparatively limited field- 
experience. While the opposition, with a few notable 
exceptions, consists of a handful of humble field-observers, 
unknown in the scientific world, but who eschew theory and 
draw their deductions at first-hand from the life . 2 
1 Cases in point are given in the present work at pp 67, 104, 174-75 ; also 
in 0 ?t Safari , pp. 124-25. 
2 The few exceptions include F. C. Selous, whose Africaii Nature Notes 
and Reminiscences contain two chapters on this subject which deserve to be 
read and read again by all who wish to master its complexities ; and, 
secondly, Theodore Roosevelt, who kindly sent me his article “ Revealing 
and Concealing Coloration in Birds and Mammals, 55 published in the Bulletin 
